Ashes to Ashes
by Alex Jensen
Summary: Prime was shocked learning about the Chernobyl accident in 1986, but what will he do now that something similar close to his own backyard? R/R Please!
1. Chernobyl in America

**Ashes to Ashes: A Transformers Story**

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_Disclaimer: I am not associated with Hasbro in any way, shape or form. I do not own the Transformers Generation One cartoon characters. If any person or place mentioned in this fan fiction exists, it is purely coincidental, save for a fiction version of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, along with cities and highways in Oregon, and Washington State._

Chapter One: Chernobyl of America

LOCATION: HANFORD NUCLEAR RESERVATION, EASTERN OREGON, NEAR COLUMBIA RIVER, 136 MILES FROM AUTOBOT CITY. 1:47PM PACIFIC TIME…Date: November 10th, 2001.

          "Alright, lets bring reactors one, two, three, and four online. Keep reactor 5 in converter building 29, offline until we get the problems hammered out. Perform initial start up checklist," said Jeff Hewlett, Manager and Owner of the newly constructed Hanford Nuclear Plant.

          It was time to start up the 4 brand new N22 Mark 17 liquid gas, water intercooler fission reactors; over 2.5 billion dollars in all. It was a new plan, from Congress, to fix the energy problems that Washington has been experiencing lately. Hydroelectric just couldn't cut it anymore, due to pollution and stranger weather patterns.

          "Okay…lets go through checklist, control rods status?" Jeff asked one of his engineers in the main control room located atop a tower in the center of all four, reactor complexes.

          "Control rods raised half way and ready. It's green on the board." Replied the engineer.

          "Intercooler?" Jeff asked.

          "Check," was the response.

          Calm and collected, efficiency like an engine. It had to be, if these reactors were to melt down. They would melt through the rock, into the groundwater and aquifers, shooting back up and releasing a monumental radioactive cloud.

          "Cooling systems, water pumps, water flow, blockage?"

          "Green, green, green, and negative…so far so good."

          "Sensors, gauges, computers, board, venting, and the fuel rods."

          "Check, check, check, check, check, and full. We're ready to go sir."

          It was time.

          "Whew…" sighed Jeff as he put his hand on the manual override four-lever bar that told the computer what to do incase of system failure. This time, it was used for startup incase of hiding computer bugs.

          The four L.E.D. light-bar gauges above the levels on the inverted section of the control panel blinked red on the bottom, and then another red light blinked above, pretty soon three yellows, and finally, the four green lights. There was now a full light bar for each reactor. This indicated the reactors are now at full power.

Jeff rolled backwards onto his office chair and looked at his three-monitor workstation computer on a table. Readings were clear, even after a complete board reset and a systems restart. It was holding steady at 1500 degrees Celsius, producing around 1,050 Megawatts each, 4,200 Megawatts in all.

          After bringing the substation online, and charging the capacitors, he released the energy into the Pacific Northwest power grid. It was indeed a bright day for the Pacific Northwest; the power crisis was officially over. Rates went down on electrical bills, and costly conservation ordinances were rescinded.

          But public relations was another story, environmentalists screamed, the EPA started scheduling harsh inspections almost at the same time the activation of the new plant was confirmed.

Jeff stayed in the control room for the remaining eight hours of his shift, watching his precious babies, his reactors. Planning his strategy for the monumentally unsafe and sketchy Russian second hand fifth reactor they had purchased. Jeff himself had almost spent seven months repairing, upgrading, and retrofitting the design. It was a reactor purchased from Chernobyl after it was shut down, permanently. Reactor #4 was retrofitted to be a fuel enrichment reactor. Number five in the grand total of reactors on-site at Hanford.

          Even with all the redundancies installed, the fixed parts…it was still a horribly unsafe design. It wouldn't take very long at all for it to go critical, maybe three hours, four maximum. The control rods could not be lowered quickly into the reactor if it was at high temperatures, because it was made with graphite lining around the inside of the containment area in the center of the reactor and it would catch fire and meltdown like the other did. While with all the safeties on the others. With no coolant and the control rods scrammed, it would at least take a day maybe 11 hours. Which was plenty of time for a possible repair or recovery, plenty of time even, for a staff and city evacuation for surrounding areas.

          Jeff thought to himself, he needed this Russian reactor; it was to be used for converting U-235 into U-238, along with high-energy reactor fuel, and Plutonium 239 along with weapons grade Plutonium 331. It was his quota, and what he could sell to the Air Force to cover his overshot construction costs, which almost drove him bankrupt and got him close to defaulting on his commercial business 2.25 billion dollar loan. This facility indeed had a price tag on it, and Jeff would keep this facility at all costs, nothing would make him shut it down, not the EPA, not any punk-ass fucking environmentalist would make him shut it down, and if he was only 136 miles from Autobot City, let Optimus Prime cry and bitch about it, he didn't care.

          Reactor Five's startup would occur tomorrow, at 10:30 in the morning. Jeff got out of his office chair, relieved by a co-worker, collected his bag, and went off to his temporary R.V. in the lot so he could remain onsite for the first month or so of operation, what he did not notice however…was the old school little blue, cassette player boom box that somehow managed to find it's own way into his bag…

_          Soundwave has infiltrated the Hanford plant, what will the Decepticons do about this? Will they raid Hanford and steal its energy? Take it over completely for a base not far at all from Autobot City? Or, cause it to meltdown, which would poison the surrounding areas and possibly irradiate over 5 million human lives in the surrounding area. Stay tuned for the next chapter: Decepticons don't glow in the dark_


	2. Decepticons don't glow in the Dark

**Ashes to Ashes**

**Chapter Two: Decepticons don't glow in the Dark**

LOCATION: HANFORD NUCLEAR RESERVATION, TEMPORARY RESIDENTIAL AREA. 3:42AM, Pacific Time. NOVEMBER 12th.

            Jeff was sound asleep in his heavily insulated RV, seemingly alone, he left the little blue boom box by an open window in the forward living room, near the cab of the RV. The box shook; the tape deck opened, and out popped a little tape with a Decepticon insignia on the front. The tape hit the ground, made a noise, and transformed into Rumble.

            "Finally, I was getting' a little cramped in there." Said the Decepticon as he pulled the blue boom box to the window.

            "Alright Soundwave, what's your orders?" Rumble asked the boom box.

            "Gather reconnaissance about security measures, statistics, and information about the nuclear fission power cores. Total and separate power output statistics would be the most useful to Megatron at this time." Replied Soundwave in a quieter version of his usual monotone voice, "Remember, stay out of sight, and only take human life if necessary."  
  


            "Affirmative Soundwave, I'll be back in a flash. Heh, for the Decepticons." Said Rumble, soon walking off into the shadows, and making his way around the complex, being sure to stay out of sight of the bright floodlights that almost illuminated the entire area of the plant.

            Rumble stopped by the first reactor building and looked around for an entrance, any entrance so he wouldn't be seen. He looked up the side and bingo; there was an open window. He silently climbed up the fire escape ladder, jumped, and grabbed the solid steel windowsill with little noise. Rumble then started to swing back and fourth, kicking his legs up, swinging up, and into the office. Hitting the floor with a thump behind the desk.

            Rumble sighed and said something to himself before he started to record what he saw into semi-permanent memory, which recorder what he heard as well.

            "Mistake number one..." Rumble said with a sigh, "Thank Primus for this crappy excuse for human security, sometimes the squishies' stupidity can save us from failure."

            He looked around the desk and office for anything useful...nothing. He turned on the computer, and cracked the user's network password with ease. Nothing...just a few spreadsheet files and other useless documents. He erased the records of him logging on and shut down the computer, easy, but fruitless labor nonetheless.

            He looked out the glass door, 'Camera's...' he thought, 'Looks like I have to find another route.' He looked up to see several vents for the air conditioning ducts in the ceiling, but soon dismissed the thought, those ducts would never hold his weight, and getting caught by humans, even though he could escape with ease; would not only earn him failure, but his reputation with the other Decepticons would be ruined. Shuddering silently in his mind, he again looked for another way out of the office.

            Reaching the wall, he carefully felt around behind a bookcase. 'Ah, a door.' he thought, as he gripped a handle and pulled. It was a covered, sliding office connection door that was out of use. But Rumble just slipped behind the bookcase, attempting to find another way out.

            Opening the door and looking around, Rumble glanced at the security camera in the far corner, one he passed earlier, it has just finished it's angle sweep and was heading back towards Rumble's direction, but he easily slipped around the corner, and down the hall towards the reactor building.

            He was anyway, before he ran right into a security guard. The guard widened his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word off, Rumble grabbed the guard's head with amazing speed, and silently smashed the guard's forehead against his knee; hard enough to kill him, but soft enough to not drive his knee into the man's head.

            "Nothing personal..." Rumble said quietly with a sneer.

            He pulled the body into a utility closet and wiped some off the man's blood on a low beam, so it looked like an accident. Rumble closed the door, and quietly used one of his cutting lasers to melt the lock, moving on, dodging guard after guard, camera after camera, soon arriving at the reactor building and beginning his scan.

            'All right,' thought Rumble, 'Power output, 1,050 Megawatts. Linked to four…that's 4,200 Megawatts in all. Not bad for human technology. This'll come in handy.'

            He went through the building again, nothing else of real value to gather, so he sneaked back to the trailer.

            "Were you seen?" asked Soundwave, quietly.

            "No," replied Rumble, "They couldn't find me, their humans. They would only spot me if I glowed in the dark, and even with the higher levels of radiation here, you know as I do that Decepticons don't glow in the dark." With that, he chuckled at the thought.

            "Report." Said Soundwave, un-amused.

"4,200 megawatts worth of power in this complex, good Energon source if we can take it right. Nothing else of value, security is pitiful, and electronic locks can be fried as we go." Replied Rumble, grabbing Soundwave out of the windowsill, walking to the fence, jumping it and dropping Soundwave so he could transform.

            Soundwave collected the now transformed Rumble into his chest and silently walked off out of range so he could fly back to the Decepticon Headquarters at the time.

LOCATION: HANFORD NUCLEAR RESERVATION, TEMPORARY RESIDENTIAL AREA. 7:42AM, Pacific Time. NOVEMBER 12th.

            Jason Michaels, a male Jamaican, 25 years old, also named Skinny, which was the plant's computer technician, knocked on the door to Alex's trailer.

            "Come on man, wake up, rise and shine, you must hear this!" he yelled through the open window.

            "Christ…" replied Alex with a groan from the open back window, "This had better be important."

            He got up and walked to the front of the RV, opening the door and squinting out at the very early sunrise, since the floodlights were still on.

            Skinny then told Alex that they found a security guard dead, and that they think it was an accident.

            "No one was here? You're sure? Checked the tapes from the camera and everything?" asked Alex.

            "Yeah, we didn't find anything that could construe it as a murder." Replied Skinny.

            "Show me where it happened, then the body."

            "Right sir, we haven't moved it yet, EMT's are flying in by helicopter as we speak."

            "Then we'd better move quickly."

            Alex walked back inside and got dressed, he needed to wrap this up quickly, and quietly so he could get reactor #5 online today for it's deadline. After getting dressed, he walked back outside and followed Skinny into reactor building #1, through several halls and to the utility closet, where Rumble's murder occurred last night.

            He looked inside at the body and cringed, he'd seen death before, but it still tweaked him the wrong way inside, just like everybody else. He examined the man's forehead, covered in blood and felt the dent, then looked at the beam that also had dried blood on it, supposedly what cause the "accident", then back at the man; before standing up and turning to Skinny.

            "Jason…this guard was killed…it wasn't an accident. First, there isn't a dent, or any scratch on the beam. Second, the dent in the man's skull would be more of a crease…it looks like he got punched…or kneed or something like that in the forehead." He said after breathing a few deep breaths.

            "Jesus Christ! Are you sure? What kind of person could dent a mans skull with no weapon?" Skinny replied in utter shock.

            "I never singled out a weapon…I'm not a doctor, or a cop…but it doesn't look like a human could do this, in my opinion anyway." Said Alex.

            "But…that could only mean…how did a Transformer get in here?" shouted Skinny, "I set up those cameras myself. There weren't any blank spots!"

            "Well, Skinny, apparently there is now…I don't think it was an Autobot…probably one of Soundwave's Deceps…but at this point, I don't trust Autobots or Decepticons…Blaster's cassettes could have done this too. Those two Transformers are the only ones with other Transformers that are this small." Said Alex, rather flatly.

            "What are we going to do about it?"

            "Inform the guard's family, and double our current security, check everything. EVERYTHING! Hire more guards…anything! This plant must stay in our control, and online. I can't have anything ruining this. Now I have to go prepare reactor #5 for startup, keep me posted…"

            With that, Alex stormed off, that much more stressed out. Reactor 5's startup was in two hours. And if anything else interfered with that, he was going to snap like a twig.

_Rumble and Soundwave have infiltrated Hanford with ease. What will happen next? Will the Autobots have a say? Or will that attack come sooner than expected. All this and more questions answered, in the next chapter of Ashes to Ashes, Chapter 3:  Enter the Autobots._


End file.
